Maynard, MA, USA: Beacon-Villager newspaper column on local history, observations on nature and recreational activities, plus an occasional health-related article. Columns from 2009-11 collected into book "MAYNARD: History and Life Outdoors." Columns from 2012-14 collected into book "Hidden History of Maynard." - David A. Mark

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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Fire Station Horn as History

One hundred years ago, the Town of Maynard Annual Report mentioned in passing
that the fire department was responsible for conducting a daily 12:10 PM test
blast of the fire department's steam whistle, located at the woolen mill.
That's historic, but the full history of 12:10 is older.

Down the years, the means of sounding an alarm for the
Maynard fire department went through several evolutions. Originally, a
battery-powered system triggered a striker to hit the school bell at the NasonStreetSchool (current site of
the Library). The year 1903 added a steam whistle at the woolen mill. Both
systems operated until the school burned to the ground in 1916. Makes you
wonder if the school bell was ringing to signal its own demise?

Two compressed air horns date to 1950

The late 1930s saw installation of a diaphone horn at the
fire station on Nason Street,
but until the mill closed in 1950 the steam whistle was still used in addition
to the horn. Later, the fire station bought a pair of compressed air powered
horns for the Nason Street
station, transferred to the roof of the current fire house in 1955. Yes, the
horns are that old.

Why 12:10? The great majority of towns with a fire horn
system conduct daily test blasts. According to "A History of the Maynard
Fire Department, 1890-1970" an unpublished manuscript written by Henry T.
Hanson, Maynard's 12:10 dates back to the 1890s. W.W. Oliver, a jeweler with a
store in the Odd Fellows Hall (next to the Nason Street fire house) was paid $12 per
year to conduct the daily test.

Oliver would walk to the train station to set his pocket
watch to "Washington
time," then walk back to Nason
Street. As the walk was about five minutes, the
daily test was set to ten minutes after the hour. He had this responsibility
because there were no full time fire station employees back in the day.

A differently told story is that because the mill's lunch
whistle blew at noon, the town's whistle was offset by ten minutes. Regardless
of origin, the 12:10 tradition continued long after any need for either a daily
time check or subservience to the mill. It's a tradition, one captured by the
fact that the Seal of the Town of Maynard shows the clock at 12:10 on town documents, vehicles and street signs.

All this is prelude to the observation that the fire horn no
longer sounds at 12:10. The decision was made by the fire department. According
to former fire chief Stephen Kulik, the horn was still operative up through his
retirement in June 2011. Anthony Stowers, the current fire chief, stated that
the practice had stopped before he came aboard in February 2012. The timing
puts the onus on the temporary, non-resident fire chief who filled in between
Kulik and Stowers. Apparently, the town's government was not involved.

Truth to tell, the fire horn system is in poor repair and
perhaps heading toward obsolescence. According to Kulik, "The horn stopped
working now and then, and it was hard to get parts. Every time we triggered the
fire signal we had our fingers crossed."

Stowers acknowledged the horn still works but has a tendency
to stick. He said, "we have made the decision to restrict the use to
actual emergencies in the effort to keep it functional for as long as
possible."

The historic purpose of fire station horns was to alert
volunteer firefighters. In an increasing large number of locations this
function has been replaced by cell phones and pagers. Same for reaching the
salaried firefighters who are off duty. Across the country, many newspapers have run articles on
debates about whether to continue, discontinue, or even resurrect the tradition
of a working fire horn system. And separately, continue or discontinue a daily
test blast.

Some towns are also getting rid of their outdoor
fire alarm call boxes, as most people reach
for a phone to call 9-1-1 rather than think
to run to the nearest alarm box.

Given that Maynard is on the cusp of abandoning its fire
horn system, can the 12:10 daily blast be resurrected solely as part of town
history? One means of doing this would
be to install a new system on Clock
Tower Place property, perhaps near the
intersection of Walnut and Main Streets. As a bonus, fire department staff
would no longer be subjected to a daily tooth-rattling blast from their own
rooftop. A new system of horns and control box from Sentry Sirens would cost
between $3,000 and $12,000 depending on whether the town wants a sound heard
only in the downtown area or a blast loud enough to wake the dead in Sudbury, Stow and Acton.

Can sounds be history? Three-quarters of a century ago, life
in Maynard was punctuated by a chorus of steam whistles on trains, the mill,
and the fire alarm. School snow days were broadcast by five blasts at 7:15 AM.
None of that is coming back. But in this writer's opinion, Maynard deserves its
12:10.

Fifty of David Mark’s 2012-2014 columns were published in book "Hidden History of Maynard" available at The Paper Store, on-line, and as an e-book.